Bournemouth's chairman backs Bond

Thursday 12 October 2006 20.51 EDT
First published on Thursday 12 October 2006 20.51 EDT

Bournemouth's chairman Abdul Jaffer says he is "comfortable" with the appointment of Kevin Bond despite his new manager's recent inclusion in the BBC Panorama programme about alleged corruption in football.

Bond lost his job as assistant to Glenn Roeder at Newcastle United after the BBC secretly recorded conversations he had with a fake agent in an undercover operation. He denies any wrong-doing and intends to pursue all legal avenues to clear his name.

"I'm a firm believer in giving people a fair chance and I've had discussions with Kevin and felt very comfortable about it," said Jaffer. "At the end of the day we went for Kevin on merit."

Bond, whose father John once managed Bournemouth and who had two spells there as a player, says he was interested in becoming the League One club's manager even before Newcastle terminated his contract. "It was certainly something I was interested in as soon as I realised Sean [O'Driscoll] had left," he said. "I think it's the perfect job."

The 49-year-old Bond admitted that he feared his appearance on Panorama could count against him. "I hoped I would [get back quickly] - perhaps I realised in some respects it might be difficult and it's credit to the board members, the people at Bournemouth, for not taking that much notice of all the hype that has gone on around previous things," he said.

"I know I've never done anything wrong or would do anything wrong. You hope the people who know you well - and I do know the people at Bournemouth have the same faith - know you well enough to disregard the negative stuff." Bond's contract is to the season's end.

The Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce is confident the allegations made against him in the Panorama programme will have no impact whatsoever on Lord Stevens' inquiry into alleged corruption in the game.

"I have never met Lord Stevens, but why should Lord Stevens, who is a very intelligent man, want to come and speak to me after that BBC programme?" Allardyce said. "He is a man of evidence, an ex-copper, and if he saw that programme he must have been saying, 'What the hell was that? A trial by media? Guilty until proven innocent?' I don't envisage any problems."